


Obsessed

by chaotically_cas



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: M/M, tw cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:14:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28781082
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaotically_cas/pseuds/chaotically_cas
Summary: Curly Shepard is unknowingly obsessed with Ponyboy Curtis
Relationships: Ponyboy Curtis/Curly Shepard
Comments: 4
Kudos: 33





	Obsessed

Curly Shepard. Now that was a name.   
The teacher was shocked when a voice actually responded to the name during attendance.   
“Here” Curly mumbled from the back of class. He didn’t usually show up so everyone’s eyes were on him. If he wasn’t already on a thin line he would have threatened them all.   
Ponyboy Curtis, who was sitting in the front row, shot a smile at Curly. This made him feel much better. After all, the boy was the only way Curly showed up in the first place.   
Curly pretty much only goes to school now to see Ponyboy. He didn’t pay any attention in class. He was too busy either watching Pony’s face or doodling on the desk in boredom.   
He found himself unconsciously scratch the letters ‘c + p’ on the desk. When he had realized what he had done he scoffed to himself.  
“Like a damn romantic movie, pansy ass” he grumped to himself.   
“What was that Mr. Shepard?” The teacher asked, making everyone’s attention turn to him.   
“Nothing” Curly mumbled, cursing himself in his head.   
The class continued on but Curly’s mind was fixated on the letters on the desk.   
He had known he liked Ponyboy as more than just buddies for some time now but he didn’t realize the extent at which he was whipped to. It almost made him laugh, but he wasn’t gonna make that mistake again.   
His mind continued to wander further and further from any thoughts of reality until a familiar voice spoke to him.   
“Curly?”  
It was Ponyboy.   
Curly jumped and quickly covered the sketch on the desk.   
“Jeez sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya” Pony laughed. He was standing next to Curly’s desk holding his books. Curly noticed most everyone was walking towards the door, class was over.   
“It’s fine.”  
“I asked if ya wanted to be my partner. I don’t figure you wanna do much work but that’s fine with me” Pony offered. And Curly guessed that Pony saw the look of extreme confusion on his face cause Pony just sighed.   
“Get up and come with me to my place, will ya?” Ponyboy laughed pulling Curly’s arm up.   
Curly had completely forgotten the day was over.   
He grabbed his pen, which was his only supply, and stood up to follow Pony out of the class.   
“Your brothers really gonna be cool with me coming over?” Curly asked as they walked towards the exit of the building, the halls flooding with people.   
“Well it’s for school so Dar must be” Pony chuckled at his loophole he found.   
Usually Dar and Soda weren’t to keen on Pony being around Curly. They weren’t to keen on Curly either. But Pony didn’t care much because to him they were real good buddies.   
As they exited the school Curly felt refreshed by the warm spring air. It wasn’t too hot or too cold, it was perfect.   
Which of course got Curly’s thoughts thinking all about Ponyboy again.   
He looked over down at the slightly younger boy.   
Damn was he a sight, thought Curly, he completely understood why practically every girl in the school had a thing for him. Not that Pony had noticed, he’s real oblivious to anything like that.   
Pony’s golden brown greased back hair almost sparkles in the sun. And if his hair wasn’t, his eyes were. Curly found absolutely everything about the boy beautiful.   
The walk was farther than Curly remembered, probably cause all Pony was talking about was the project. Curly was trying real hard to listen to the boy but his mind just kept wandering.   
“Curly? You getting any of this?” Pony chuckled, slapping his friend on the back of the head lightly as to knock him out of his trace.   
“Something bout an essay” Curly laughed with a shrug. At least he was honest.   
“It’s a partner essay. But ain’t no way in hell I’m letting you write any of it. You don’t pay a lick of attention. You’re awfully glad you got me” Ponyboy smirked.   
“Sure am” Curly scoffed.   
Pony opened the barely functioning gate that lead to the front steps of his house. Surely Soda and Steve were still at work, Darry too. So Pony well expected to have the house to themselves.   
“Hello?” Pony called, opening the door to the house. No one answered.   
“Too bad old Dar ain’t here to see me in the house, could you imagine?” Curly hissed with a laugh.   
“Can’t imagine. You’d be dead” Pony teased harshly.   
Ponyboy grabbed a snack for the two of them from the fridge and they made their way to Pony’s room.   
Curly sat on a wooden chair in the corner of the room while Pony sat on his bed.   
As many times as Curly had pictured the youngest Curtis’ bedroom in his head, he hasn’t ever really been in it till now. And it wasn’t too different.   
He noticed Pony’s desk was real messy with his art supplies and school work. The whole room was a clean mess, if Curly could describe it that way.   
His eyes flickered to a drawing hanging above Pony’s desk.   
“Hey, is that Johnny? You draw that?” Curly asked amazed, pointing to the drawing of their mutual friend.   
“Yeah” Pony answered, expecting Curly to make fun of him.  
“That’s real good Pony! I didn’t know you could draw like that!” Curly complimented.   
“Thanks Curls” Pony blushed.   
The nickname had been given to Curly when they were around nine, and it stuck.   
“Can ya draw me?” Curly asked hesitantly.   
“We’re supposed to be working” Pony laughed, knowing he would end up giving in in just a few seconds.   
“Please?”   
“Fine. But dont judge ok?” Pony scolded. Curly raised his hands in surrender as to say ‘I wouldn’t dare’.   
Pony reached over to his desk and grabbed his pencil, pencil sharpener, and a notebook. He opened the notebook to around the middle and took right to drawing.   
Curly tried to stay real still. Pony looked real focused with his eyes darting in between the paper and the other boy. There was a comfortable silence between the two where all they heard was the sketching of Pony’s pencil.   
Curly couldn’t help but notice how angelic the small Curtis looked. His eyes darting around Curly’s face made Curly’s stomach feel all sorts of ways. Not to mention the way his nose and eyebrows scrunched when he got real focused on a detail. He belonged in a museum, thought Curly.   
“Done. Wanna see?” Pony asked snapping Curly out of his thoughts yet again.   
“Hell yeah” Curly smirked. He stood up and walked over to sit next to where Ponyboy was sitting on the best.   
Pony slowly opened the journal and Curly practically gasped.   
It was him, far better looking, but it was him. It was amazing. And Curly wasn’t just thinking this cause it was of him, but it was just amazing. Pony had a real skill about him.   
“Damn Ponyboy. This is incredible” Curly breathed out, still soaking in every bit of the drawing. It was one of the nicest things anyone had did from him in a while. It made him feel something real nice and warm inside.   
“Ya like it?” Pony asked with a smile “It’s yours!”  
“Really?” Curly questioned, his eyes snapping to meet Pony’s.   
“Absolutely. It’s your face after all aint it?”  
“Yeah I guess. But much better looking.”  
“That ain’t true.”  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Curly replied with a slight chuckle.   
“I just mean it looks good, cause you look good” Pony shrugged nonchalantly. To Pony it was probably just like a buddy thing. But for Curly, god, he just about exploded.   
He could feel every heart beat pulse throughout his whole body as he fought the ever creeping blush crawling up his neck.   
“Thanks Pony, you ain’t too bad yourself.”  
Curly could’ve sworn he saw a small blush appear on Ponyboy’s face. But just the they heard the front door swing open and the sound of conversation enter the house.   
Pony stood up and walked towards the front door. It took Curly a second but he followed close after.   
“Ponyboy! How was-“ Sodapop started with a grin on his face that quickly disappeared, “why is Curly Shepard here?”  
“We are working on a class project together” Pony answered honestly.   
“Please Pony we know the likes of Curly ain’t gonna do no work” Steve Randle laughed. And Curly couldn’t help but smirk at that, he was right.   
“Relax boys, I was just leaving” Curly chuckled turning to Ponyboy, “you mind if I get that drawing?”  
Pony shook his head and went back into his room to get it, leaving the three other boys in the kitchen in an awkward silence.   
Pony came back after a few seconds with the torn out drawing in his hand, and handed it to Curly.   
“What’s that?” Sodapop asked with growing curiosity of the two younger boys.   
“Wouldn’t you like to know” Curly smirked, walking past them and out the door.   
“Boy he’s a character for sure” Steve laughed making his way over the fridge.   
“Sure is. You be careful, huh Ponyboy?” Soda warned.   
“Come on Soda, he ain’t that bad once you get to know him. He’s rather sweet” Pony shrugged walking back to his room.   
He heard the couple back in the kitchen start up a conversation but Pony didn’t bother to listen in. His head was still swirling with thoughts of the last hour.

~ ~ ~ 

Pony woke up with Soda’s arm around his waist. He was burning up and needed to get out of bed. So he carefully removed his brother's sleeping arm and crawled out of bed.   
He walked to his dresser and pulled on a pair of sweatpants, he didn’t bother to put on a shirt.   
He walked out into the living room rubbing his still tired eyes.   
“I think there’s someone on the porch for you” Darry said not looking up from where he sat reading his newspaper.   
“There is?” Pony asked, walking over to the front door.   
And sure enough a familiar figure was sitting on the porch smoking a cigarette.   
“What’s Curly doing here?” Pony asked, surprised that his eldest brother hadn’t ran him off long ago.   
“Don’t know. He refused to leave until he got a chance to talk to you.”  
Pony nodded and opened the door. Curly instantly turned around, his face lighting up.   
“Hey Pone!” Curly greeted standing up. He was sure trying his hardest not to glance down at the shirtless boy in front of him. Boy was he trying.   
“Heya Curly, what are ya doing here?” Pony asked confused, a sight tilt to his head.   
“I was just wondering if ya wanted to spend the day with me. I got Tim’s car and I’ll actually help ya with the work” Curly practically pleaded.   
“Ya really wanna hang out that bad?” Pony chucked.   
“If you don’t mind. I got in a bit of a fight with Tim so I ain’t got much places to go or do” he shrugged.   
“Sure, gimme ten minutes?”   
“Take your time, baby Curtis.”  
Pony scoffed at the nickname and walked back in the house.   
“What’d he want?” Darry asked, finally putting the newspaper down.   
“He wanted to know if I could spend the rest of the day with him. Mostly doing our school project. Can I?”   
Darry sat quiet for a second. Pony fully expected him to say no, many even curse a bit.  
“You better be home by curfew.”  
“Wait really?” Pony quested in shock, “I can go?”  
“As long as you’re working on school. Plus, the kid did sit out there for two hours waiting for you” Darry said with a chuckle, almost proud of his own intimidation.  
“And ya didn’t wake me?!” Pony gasped. Poor Curly, he thought.   
Darry just shrugged and went back to his newspaper.   
Ponyboy walked to his room. He saw Soda was still sleeping so as quietly as he could, he grabbed his favorite pair of jeans, one of Soda’s old tank tops, and his old dirty white sneakers.   
He walked out to the living room and waved at Darry, continuing to the door.   
“Hey Curls!” he greeted his friend, who stood up with a smile.   
“Heya again Pone!” Curly greeted him as they began walking to Tim’s car.   
“Where are we going first” Ponyboy asked, buckling up his seatbelt.   
“Waffles?” Curly suggested, knowing full well waffles were Pony’s favorite food, and he loved the way his eyes lit up.   
“I’m guessing that means yes?” Curly laughed, putting the car into gear and pulling away. Luckily the Waffle House wasn’t too far away, not even enough time for half a song.   
They parked and walked into the Waffle House, it smelled like syrup and nostalgia.   
They grabbed a booth sitting across from each other and Curly couldn’t help but note the cheesy smile on Pony’s face.   
“You sure do like waffles don’t ya?” Curly teaser with a smile tugging at his own lips.   
“It ain’t just that” Pony chuckled.   
“Then what?” Curly asked, raising a pierced eyebrow.   
“You, I guess” Pony shrugged.   
“Me?” Curly replied, shocked.   
“Yeah you. It’s fun with you” Pony replied casually, not knowing the effect his words had on the other boy.   
Curly could have sworn he felt his heart skip a beat, as cheesy as it sounds. He could have sworn it.   
“Gee Pony, you sure know how to make a guy blush” Curly laughed, shaking his head. He noticed a blush slowly growing on Pony’s face as well.   
Before they could say anything else, the waitress came over to get their order.   
Pony got chocolate chip waffles and orange juice while Curly got plain waffles and coffee, basic.   
“You’re such an old man” Pony teased.   
“Shut up, I'm paying. Remember?” Curly smirked, and Pony raised his hands in surrender.   
“What are we gonna do after this?” Pony asked.   
“Thought we could do some work, somewhere where we ain’t gonna be distracted by nothing” Curly smiled, sitting back in the booth.   
“Sounds nice.”  
Their food came and Pony’s was gone is just about two minutes.   
“Jesus Ponyboy. You're gonna be sick” Curly laughed, taking a sip of coffee “remind me not to take ya out to waffles again.”  
“Take me out?” Pony questioned.   
Shit, Curly cursed himself. He completely forgot tgis hadn’t been a date.   
“I just mean-“ Curly started.   
“Relax dork” Pony smiled before stuffing his face again.   
They finished up and Curly paid, as promised.   
“Thanks Curls!” Ponyboy grinned as they walked back to Tim’s car.   
“No problem!”  
They got back into the car that smelt of cigarettes and leather and Curly sped off.   
“So, where do you have in mind?”   
“You’ll see baby Curtis” Curly smirked.Ponyboy rolled his eyes but didn’t argue.   
The drive was silent, but comfortable. Ponyboy looked out the window and occasionally pointed things out. Whereas Curly fiddled with the radio and humored Pony. Overall the drive was about a half an hour.   
Curly pulled onto a dry dirt road that dusted up as they drove on.   
“I have a feeling I’m gonna be murdered” Pony chuckled.   
“How’d you know?!” Curly gasped in fake shock, Pony slapping him on the arm “we are here”.   
“Where the hell are we?”   
“You’ll see. Boy are you impatient. Come on” Curly said rolling his eyes. He turned the car off and grabbed Ponyboy’s arm, pulling him up a small hill.   
“Jeez Curly, what’s the big rush?” Pony laughed in confusion.   
“Will ya shut up? You’ll see!”  
Pony just shook his head as they arrived at the top of the small green hill.   
The two of them stood overlooking the small town and all the little houses that were now dots. It was so beautiful.   
“Wow” Ponyboy gasped.   
“You should see it at sunset” Curly said.   
“What?”   
“You should see it at sunset. It’s much better even” Curly repeated.   
“You like sunsets?”  
“Who doesn’t” Curly chuckled, sitting down on the grass.   
“I don’t know” Pony hummed in response, sitting down right next to Curly.   
“We didn’t bring anything to work on” Pony mentioned.   
“We brought your big old brain, didn’t we?” Curly pointed out humorously.   
“And here I thought you were gonna help” Pony grumped, half jokingly.   
“I am!”  
“Sure you are, you ain’t in my brain.”  
“Yeah but I’m in mine.”  
“What’s that even supposed to mean?”  
“I don’t know.”  
The two of them fell silent again.   
“I just really wanted to spend some time with you I guess. And for you to see up here” Curly shrugged, breaking the silence.   
“I’m happy to spend time with ya, Curls” Pony giggled “how come you know about here?”  
“I come here when I’m upset. Usually when I fight with Tim. It helps me remember all that shit is just real small in the end” Curly replied, a deeper response than Pony would have predicted from the boy.  
“Why don’t you go to school much anymore Curly? I know you’re smart” Pony told Curly.   
“I ain’t smart. The only reason I go is to see you” Curly shrugged.   
“Me?”   
“Yeah. If you weren’t there I wouldn’t bother. I ain’t smart enough.”   
“I don’t think that’s true. I think you’re real smart Curly” Pony promised, looking at his friend, trying to meet his eyes.   
“Thanks Pony” Curly said with a small smile creeping onto his face.   
“I mean it. Only smart people can appreciate a sunset” Pony spoke honestly.   
Curly just nodded. The sun would be setting in about two hours.   
The next two hours was full of small banter, jokes, and teasing. Occasionally dipping into deep topics. The time flew by.   
“The city looks so much smaller than it does when you’re in it. I wonder where Dally or Two are” Pony thought out loud.   
“You wanna know something Pony?” Curly asked hesitatingly.   
“Of course” Pony replied, looking at Curly.   
“You see that?” Curly asked pointing to a house with a bright red roof, Pony nodded, “follow that two block up, three to the right, and six houses in. I think that’s your house.”  
Pony gasped. “It is! How can you tell that?” Pony asked, amazed.   
“I've been up here a lot.”  
“I’ll say, that’s real sweet actually” Pony smiled.   
They two fell into another small spell of silence just as the sun started to dip under the earth, creating the beautiful colors Pony cherished so much.   
“Wow. Will ya look at that” Curly chuckled happily.   
“I knew thought I’d be watching a sunset with Curly Shepard” Pony giggled to himself “hey Curls?”  
“Yeah?”  
“What’s Curly short for?”  
“Nothing. It’s my name. Like yours” Curly answered with a smile on his own face. Pony nodded understandingly as they both turned back to the sunset.   
“It’s so beautiful,” Pony whispered.   
“I’ll say.”  
Curly wasn't talking about the sunset anymore though. His gaze had fallen back on the boy next to him.   
Pony’s hair looked angelic in the lighting. His eyes looked like pools of deep honey. You even could see traces of his light freckles. All of his features stood out like a sculpture in its golden hour. He looked heavily, thought Curly. And then the butterflies were back.   
“Curly?” Pony blinked, meeting the other boy's dark eyes.   
“Yeah Pony” Curly responded, his breath nearly catching in his throat.   
“Whatcha starin at?”  
“You…” Curly answered nervously, his palms began to swear.   
“Oh.”  
“Oh?”  
“I just mean, that’s cool” Pony blushed softly.   
“It is?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Oh”, it was Curly’s turn to blush.   
Pony looked down at his shoes and played with his fingers, his face red as ever.   
“Pony,” Curly said, taking a deep breath. Now or never, he thought. “Can I kiss you?”  
Ponyboy just nodded.   
Curly lifted a hand to Pony’s soft cheek and pulled him close with the other. Pony’s hands found themselves into Curly’s shoulders and neck.   
Curly bumped his nose against Pony’s and they both let out a small nervous laugh before Curly pressed his lips against Ponyboys.   
The kiss was sweet and tender but needy and passionate at the same time.   
They pulled their lips apart and rested their foreheads together, Curly breathed out a sigh of relief.  
“Finally.”  
“What do you mean finally?” Pony asked, looking into Curly’s piercing brown eyes.   
“I mean I’ve been wanting to do that forever now” Curly grinned with a blush.   
“Why didn’t ya?” Pony smiled with a new confidence Curly hadn’t ever seen in him before.   
“I’ll make up for it” Curly smirked, leaning in again. He was obsessed.


End file.
